Dinner
by four leave clover
Summary: Annabeth Chase does NOT have a crush on Percy Jackson, no matter what Clarisse says.


**I found this from months ago and decided I would post it. It's set during Lightning Thief, the 'day of the toilet's.' Please review :)**

The last person I expected to start a conversation with me at dinner was Clarisse.

Usually, we never spoke to each other. The only time I actually think I had seen her up close was this afternoon while I was showing Percy around camp. That had ended in him blowing up a bunch of toilets on us, so I didn't really expect her to be thrilled with me.

She tapped me on my shoulder. When I turned around, I was surprised to see that it didn't look like she wanted to take a go at me with Maimer. There was a plate of food in her hand - offerings for Ares. She was on her way to the fire in the middle of the Pavillion.

My mouth went dry. Normally I wasn't intimidated by Clarisse - but she had never come up to me personally like this before. "Uh, hey."

She smirked. "Hey. You're welcome for getting that new kid out of your hair today, by the way."

So she wanted to talk about Percy. _Yeah, that ended well, _I thought bitterly. _That's why my clothes from earlier are currently hanging up to dry in front of my cabin…_

"Uh, thanks," I said.

Clarisse laughed, something I didn't know she was capable of doing… "I knew the newbies could be pretty clueless, but seriously…?"

My eyes wandered to the Hermes table, where I saw Percy Jackson immediately. He was sitting in between Luke and Travis Stoll… looking completely uncomfortable. I could tell Luke kept on trying to involve him in whatever they were talking about (he was nice like that) but Percy didn't seem to be having it.

How was I supposed to feel about him? First off, I knew for a fact he was definitely not normally a quiet kid. Most of the newcomers acted like him, though.

Also, even though it was hard to admit, I was disgustingly jealous of him. How was it fair that I had been at camp for 5 years and still hadn't gotten my _kill-a-minotaur-with-my-bare-hands _moment, and this kid had gotten his before he could even get inside?

"He's not clueless." I said without thinking.

"Huh?"

Darn it. Why had I said that?! Now I had to defend _myself _for defending _Percy _and I didn't even really know why I had.

"I mean, he's probably really scared, right? First his Mom… and now he has to deal with… monsters and stuff."

Clarisse laughed again, it was honestly getting more shocking every time. "Are you talking about that minotaur? I think it was staged, honestly, no kid _his _size could take down something like that."

"I don't think Chiron would send a monster out to try and kill the new kid." I stared at Clarisse's boots.

"He got toilet water all over me, the second I bring him into the bathroom, the pipes just _burst.." _

_Clarisse really has a lot of room to be calling other people 'punk', _I thought wryly. "I _was _there," I informed her, just in case she forgot, which was more likely than it sounded.

"And Holy Olympus, we thought he might've been the one," Clarisse barked, putting air quotes around "the one".

That hit me hard. Maybe it was because my getting a quest was completely dependant on Percy being the "one", and that didn't include me convincing him that he should take me with him. "He might still be, actually. I think he really killed the minotaur."

"Yeah, OK, let's say he did. By luck."

"He disarmed Luke," I knew was grabbing at straws. So far, those were Percy's only two known accomplishments.

"_Luck, _Annabeth. I thought you were supposed to be smart!" her voice went through me like nails on a chalkboard, causing a few kids at my table to look up at me. Malcom met my eyes, but I shook my head at him. _Not yet._

"Can't you tell he's just another kid who's gonna end up in the Hermes cabin forever?" Clarisse ranted on. "Pretty soon no one will even remember about the minotaur and he won't even _matter _anymore."

I refused to let myself believe what she was saying was true, even though logic, which I had always relied on, told me it was. Since first coming to Camp Half Blood I had seen a whole ton of kids cross the border who never ended up getting claimed. Sometimes, the Gods just had too many kids to possibly remember.

Percy Jackson was my one chance for a quest, and here was Clarisse, stomping all over it.

"Stop it, Clarisse." I told her forcefully.

"What -"

"Just shut up for once in your like, ok?"

Anger flashed in her eyes. I wondered if I had crossed the line. Ares and Athena kids usually worked well together - teaming up in capture the flag was an example, since combined there was no way we _couldn't _win. I had never gotten on the bad side of an Ares kid, though.

However, I was saved by Luke Castellan walking past, also with leftovers on his place. He noticed Clarisse by the Athena table and stopped.

"Everything OK over here? Annabeth?"

He stared at me, like he knew that Clarisse had been bothering me. Gods of Olympus. He was handsome. I felt my face burning and didn't want to seem like some wimpy little kid. "It's fine Luke."

"Alright then," Luke dumped his offerings into the fire and went back to the Hermes table.

Surprisingly, once he was gone, Clarisse didn't absolutely clobber me. She _grinned. _

"Jeez. If I didn't know you had it bad for Luke -" I glared, causing Clarisse to roll her eyes. "Oh, c'mon, Annabeth, the entire camp can tell. Anyways, I'd say you have a crush on Percy."

I wanted to melt right into the bench. "I do _not _have a crush on Percy."

Clarisse made kissy-lips at me and continued to the fire in the middle of the pavilion. I could hear her laughing loudly the whole way.

I looked down at my plate of chicken, feeling like my face was on fire. Without my consent, my eyes wandered to the Hermes table, over to Percy.

He looked up at me, too. He was confused.

I was done with dinner too, I decided. I grabbed my plate and went to go scrape what I hadn't finished into the fire refusing to make eye contact with anyone.

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


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